spacing-skill
The Anti-Cramped Spacing Skill for AI Agents
One scale. Real rhythm. Optical alignment. UI that breathes instead of looking templated.
Latest release · CI checks · npm package · Release policy
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Why
The fastest tell of AI-generated UI is spacing, not color or typography:
p-4 on every container, gap-2 between unrelated things, magic numbers like
13px, headings orphaned by symmetric margins, everything equally cramped.
spacing-skill gives an agent a spacing system — read the layout, set three
dials, pull every value from one scale, encode relationships with proximity, and
let type drive vertical rhythm. It's contextual: nothing fires automatically, so
a dashboard doesn't get marketing-hero air and a hero doesn't get table density.
Install
GitHub Packages
A repository-linked copy is available as @buidangminh23/spacing-skill on
GitHub Packages.
The npmjs.com package remains @minhspark/spacing-skill.
GitHub's npm registry requires authentication with a classic token with
read:packages even for public packages. Authenticate locally, never commit a token:
npm login --scope=@buidangminh23 --registry=https://npm.pkg.github.com --auth-type=legacy
npm install @buidangminh23/spacing-skill --registry=https://npm.pkg.github.comThis downloads the bundle; use the agent-specific instructions below to register it.
npm package
Download the versioned bundle from npm:
npm install @minhspark/spacing-skillThe files are installed under node_modules/@minhspark/spacing-skill. This command does not register the skill with an agent; use the agent installation commands below or copy the bundled skill into the agent's skill directory.
Stable downloads and release notes: GitHub Releases.
Each release includes a portable ZIP and SHA256SUMS.txt. Extract the ZIP to retain the native plugin directory structure.
Pick your tool. Every block below has a copy button (hover its top-right corner).
npx · skills
The skills CLI on npm installs and
registers this skill from GitHub. It is an alternative to downloading the npm bundle.
npx skills add buidangminh23/spacing-skillnpx · add-skill
npx add-skill buidangminh23/spacing-skillClaude Code · native plugin (run inside Claude Code)
/plugin marketplace add buidangminh23/spacing-skill
/plugin install spacing-skill@spacing-skillCursor
npx skills add buidangminh23/spacing-skill -a cursorCodex · native marketplace
codex plugin marketplace add buidangminh23/spacing-skillGemini CLI · native extension
gemini extensions install https://github.com/buidangminh23/spacing-skillWorks with: Claude Code · Cursor · Codex · Gemini CLI.
Skill name once loaded: design-spacing-rhythm → then prompt "Use the spacing-rhythm skill."
More options — global flags, other agents (Cline, opencode…), manual install
The skills CLI targets any agent with -a and installs to the user directory with -g:
| Tool | Command |
|---|---|
| Claude Code | npx skills add buidangminh23/spacing-skill -a claude-code -g |
| Codex | npx skills add buidangminh23/spacing-skill -a codex -g |
| Cursor | npx skills add buidangminh23/spacing-skill -a cursor -g |
| Cline | npx skills add buidangminh23/spacing-skill -a cline -g |
| opencode | npx skills add buidangminh23/spacing-skill -a opencode -g |
| Several at once | npx skills add buidangminh23/spacing-skill -a claude-code -a cursor -a codex |
Drop -g for a project-local install. Manage with npx skills list, npx skills update, npx skills remove.
Manual (portable) — fetch the file once, then place it where your agent looks:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/buidangminh23/spacing-skill/main/skills/spacing-skill/SKILL.md -o SKILL.md| Tool | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| Claude Code | ~/.claude/skills/design-spacing-rhythm/SKILL.md (global) or .claude/skills/… (project) |
| Codex | save in repo, then reference from AGENTS.md |
| Cursor | rename to .cursor/rules/spacing-skill.mdc |
| Cline / opencode / others | drop into the agent's skills/rules folder, or paste SKILL.md as context |
Skills
| Folder | Install name | What it does |
|---|---|---|
skills/spacing-skill |
design-spacing-rhythm |
Anti-cramped spacing: one scale, vertical rhythm, whitespace hierarchy, optical alignment, responsive density, accessibility floors, document & long-form (Word/Docs/PDF) spacing, and a pre-flight checklist. |
Settings — The Three Dials
Every spacing decision is gated by three dials. Defaults assume a general product UI; override them conversationally ("make it denser", "this feels cramped").
| Dial | Range | Default | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
SPACING_STEP |
4 / 8 | 8 | Base grid unit (px). 4 for dense data UI, 8 for clean general layout. |
DENSITY |
1–10 | 4 | 1 = art-gallery airy (marketing) → 10 = cockpit packed (tables/terminals). |
ALIGNMENT_RIGOR |
1–10 | 7 | 1 = freeform/editorial → 10 = strict grid- and baseline-locked. |
The skill infers these from a one-line "Space Read" before generating any code — e.g. "Spacing this as: a SaaS landing at density 3, on an 8px scale, with generous section rhythm."
What's inside the skill
16 sections, all dial-driven and contextual:
- §0 Space Inference — read signals, emit a one-line "Space Read", anti-default discipline.
- §1 The three dials — inference tables mapping the situation to dial values.
- §2 One spacing scale — px-keyed, Tailwind-aligned; primitive vs semantic tokens; modular macro tier. No magic numbers, ever.
- §3 Primitives & gap ownership — stack / inline / inset / grid-gap, and the single-owner law.
- §4 Layout grid & alignment — 12-col grid, measure (45–75ch), flex/grid alignment toolkit, subgrid for aligned card internals.
- §5 Vertical rhythm — type drives spacing; asymmetric heading margins; control heights from line-height + inset.
- §6 Whitespace hierarchy — the proximity ladder (intra < inter-item < inter-group, ≥1.5×).
- §7 Optical alignment — asymmetric glyph nudges, icontext cap-band, hanging punctuation, overshoot.
- §8 Responsive & fluid spacing —
clamp(), mobile density step-down, container queries, logical properties, safe-area insets. - §9 Accessibility floors — verified WCAG numbers (2.5.8 / 2.5.5 / 1.4.12 / 1.4.10), Apple 44pt / Material 48dp.
- §10 Component recipes — buttons, inputs, forms, cards, nav, modals, tables, chips, menus, sections, media.
- §11 Anti-pattern catalog — 14 AI spacing tells, each with the fix.
- §12 Implementation per stack — Tailwind, plain CSS, MUI/Chakra/Radix/shadcn, design tokens, debugging.
- §13 Operating procedure — 8-step pipeline, conversational override protocol, full pre-flight checklist.
- §14 Document & long-form — Word / Google Docs / PDF / Markdown: page margins, line spacing, the indent-vs-space rule, heading styles, print pagination, and a concept→tool mapping.
- §15 Continuous improvement — a field-learnings loop: every real spacing edit is logged in
LEARNINGS.mdand distilled back into the skill, so it gets sharper with use.
Continuous improvement
This skill is built to get sharper with use (§15). Every real spacing or
alignment edit is captured in LEARNINGS.md — a one-line Space
Read, the real numbers, and a covered / gap / refinement verdict — and any
lesson that generalizes is distilled back into SKILL.md with a CHANGELOG.md
version bump. The journal stays out of the context-loaded skill, so the brain
stays lean while the experience compounds.
Release policy
Releases follow Semantic Versioning: patch for corrections, minor for compatible
skill additions, major for incompatible installation or behavior changes.
package.json is the version source; the skill and plugin manifests are
published to npm. See CONTRIBUTING.md for the full procedure.
A vX.Y.Z tag triggers validation on Windows, macOS, and Linux with Node 22 and
24. Every versioned manifest and the latest changelog entry must match the tag.
Only passing releases publish: notes come from that changelog entry, and the ZIP
contains the committed skill, native plugin metadata, license, and documentation.
Existing releases are verified on rerun instead of overwritten. Published tags
and assets must not be moved or replaced; corrections require a new version.
Common Questions
Does it work outside Claude Code?
Yes. SKILL.md is a portable instruction file. Drop it into Codex, Cursor, or
any agent that can load skill/instruction files, or paste it as context.
Tailwind only? No. The default scale matches Tailwind so it drops in cleanly, but §12 (Implementation per stack) covers plain CSS variables, component libraries, and design tokens.
MIT Licensed · Built by buidangminh23
Give it room — but give it measured room.